


homie's knees lookin' mad cute

by tranquilatlast



Series: holiday oneshots [11]
Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Childhood Friends, Crushes, Friends to Lovers, Jared Kleinman Centric, M/M, Pining, Sharing Clothes, Sweater weather, kissing kind of interrupts any flirting, no nut november ment, not much, they kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-25 17:59:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16665550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tranquilatlast/pseuds/tranquilatlast
Summary: “You look good.” Good in, like, a friend way? What the fuck? They were close, right? Close enough to ask whether this was gay or not? Right? Or was that, like, obvious knowledge Evan expected him to know somehow?Evan Hansen called himcute.Jared needed more soup.(In which Jared borrows Evan's sweaters to resist the cold weather and pines, pines, pines.)





	homie's knees lookin' mad cute

**Author's Note:**

> (in which author loves jared kleinman, disaster gay)
> 
> i hope you get a kick out of this!!

Jared really hated cold weather. It made his cheeks and nose flare bright red, his teeth honest-to-god clattered, and everyone else always seemed to have no problem withstanding the temperature drop. He'd be the only one along his classmates to be shuddering in class, half his face buried in a thick scarf that hid his runny nose. One of his teachers even brought a new box of tissues from their supply closet to give him for the rest of the school day when he used up the class tissue box within the first half hour. Cold weather was uncomfortable and humiliating and something that made Jared want to throw himself into the pits of hell for some extra heat.

Still, though. It was probably his favorite season. Right now, he was eyeing the reason for that.

Evan Hansen was sitting outside the school for lunch, not looking bothered at all by the cold weather even though his cheeks and ears were flushed a light pink color that could be seen from Jared's vantage point. He had his own little picnic table to himself and not many students were around outside, save for a few small groups of friends huddling together for warmth as they chatted. Jared was peeking out one of the exit door's tiny glass pane, watching the boy do homework as he ate. He knew for a fact that math sheet was assigned that morning. What a fucking nerd. Jared was smitten.

The blond was swimming—drowning really—in a huge, dark blue sweater. The fabric looked amazingly soft and worn from what must have been years of use, but still pooled around his waist and had to be bunched up at the wrists like Evan still hadn't grown into it. Dark colors besides the occasional gray weren't really worn by Evan at all, which was saying a lot since Jared had known the kid since elementary. Navy blue contrasted greatly against the teen's white shoes and boring beige khakis and blue eyes and hair that Jared could never quite classify as dirty blond or light brown but always looked so tempting to touch and the weather may be fucking freezing but Evan was hot hot hot hot _hot_. Shit. He loved thinking in run-on sentences. Jared glanced around to see if anyone noticed him drooling over this loser, but the halls were understandably empty. It was cooler in here than the cafeteria.

Right. He had to prepare himself for going outside by not preparing himself at all. He just had to go for it. Why think? Just do. Just go. No thinking involved. Maybe he should have brought an extra hoodie. Before he could stall any longer, Jared pushed the bar on the door to swing it open, the cool wind from outside immediately slapping him in the face. He had his box of tissues in hand and a packed lunch in the other, which he'd brought from home and microwaved just minutes prior in a teacher's classroom without them really caring. He should have stayed in the classroom if the weather was going to be even worse than he’d already thought it was.

Jared immediately shrunk in on himself, hugging his body as best as he could without dropping his lunch or tissues or literally all of the body fat that was keeping him from turning into a motionless husk. He greatly sympathized with penguins as he waddled forward carefully, the school door closing behind him as he approached his friend's lunch table. Maybe he should watch _Happy Feet 2_ again to share his condolences. Evan glanced over his shoulder when he heard the door, and smiled softly at Jared without looking the least amused at his awkward shuffling. Nice people were disgusting. Jared sat down beside Evan, though on usual days with bearable temperatures, he often sat across from the boy. It was a thing now. Evan never mentioned it. Again, disgusting.

“Hey, Jared,” he greeted warmly, a stark contrast to every other thing about this day. Jared let out a rude noise from under the few layers of scarf he had over his mouth, but Evan just uncapped his thermos and tilted it towards Jared. “Mom made a lot of hot chocolate. Want some?”

He made another noise, questioning, and took the thermos with both gloved hands. Evan went back to whatever he was doing with whatever boring numbers for whatever class. Jared didn't bother blowing the hot beverage before taking a big sip, pleased to have the liquid go down without scorching his entire mouth and throat. He took a few more big gulps of the perfectly warm hot chocolate and then capped it tightly to make sure the heat was trapped, then carefully took his lunch out.

The piping hot soup was less gentle on his tongue, but Jared took it like a champ with only a little bit of watering in his eyes. He grabbed a tissue to wipe that away, then folded it in half and blew his runny nose into it before tossing the thing into his empty paper lunch bag. Evan didn't seem to mind, which was boring. Nice people were boring.

“Evan, I'm cold,” Jared stated, sounding more whiny and stuffy than he'd intended to be. The teen barely gave him a glance, brow furrowed as he looked over an equation for just a second before starting to solve it.

“You look decked out in, like, sweaters, though.” His answer was noncommittal. Jared waved a gloved hand in front of Evan's face, but soon regretted it and took his arm back to hug himself again. It got his attention, anyway. “What?”

“Dude, I didn't come out here to watch you do math.” Evan looked at him expectedly, putting his pencil down with a soft tap against the table. Jared felt his neck steadily warm up as warm eyes looked into his. Words. Words, words, words. “I—Complain.”

“You complain.” The blond had his brows raised in a fake “I know exactly what you're talking about” expression. Jared patted his own chest, pretending to clear something up. Faux phlegm.

“Shut up, don't interrupt me,” Jared coughed deeply. He sniffled. “I wanted to complain about the coldness. Why do you always come out here anyway?”

“If you're cold, you can just go back inside. I'll find you after school,” Evan offered kindly. What a dick.

“And where am I gonna eat inside?” He knew Evan knew he didn't really sit with anyone else. “You can't expect me to eat alone the whole winter.”

“I come outside because I think the cold is nice,” the blond admitted. Jared scoffed, but fondly.

“‘I come outside because I think the cold is nice,’” he mocked in a low voice. “Whatever. We'll both eat alone then.” He made no move to go inside. Highschool was lonely.

Evan made a face while looking at him, considering ways to help. Jared took his spoon in hand and mixed up his soup, leaning forward to take a big mouthful. The face Evan was making looked very focused, but very soft. How could a guy look so cute with his nose all red? Rudolph was onto something. Jared stared back at Evan with a forced deadpan expression as he ate more soup. Finally, the blond's mouth twitched to the side the way it does when he gets an idea.

He shifted back a bit, away from the table, and reached to bunch up his sweater behind his neck before tugging it off. A big gulp of soup nearly half flew out of Jared's mouth, half forced its way down his throat, but he slapped his hand over it and kept the soup in his cheeks as the blond brought the sweater over his head and slid his arms out of the sleeves. He had a long-sleeved shirt under that, which was tucked into his pants, so none of it rose up to expose any skin. Jared was eternally grateful. He was dying enough as is.

Evan huffed softly and he got the sweater off, fixing the sleeves quickly and then holding the article of clothing out to Jared with both hands. His hair was just slightly messed up from the cloth rubbing against it and his cheeks got a bit pinker, but there was a smile on his face as he offered the sweater and he wanted Jared to be warm so they could have lunch together and he was literally the _cutest boy in the fucking world oh my god what the fuck_. Jared swallowed his soup down and hesitantly took the sweater, Evan’s head lowering in a very small, satisfied nod before he looked back at his homework again.

The shorter teen eyed the sweater, holding it with his hands flat as if he wasn't allowed to add his own wrinkles into it. It seemed super soft when Evan was wearing it, and it felt just as comfy as it looked. It was even kind of warm from the body heat of its owner. Jared glanced at his friend, who was finishing up the question he'd interrupted him on. He glanced back at the sweater in his hands. He looked at Evan. The sweater. Evan. The sweater. Evan was beautiful. He should probably put on this sweater.

Jared moved his lunch away just a bit to make sure no stray sleeve or anything could fall into his soup and get dirty. In an effort not to stretch out the cloth more than it already was, he lifted his arms above his head and let the sweater fall over him. With a bit of wiggling, the thing was covering him in a huge mess of loose fabric and comfy warmth. Jared fixed his glasses, then the hem of the sweater, then the wide neckline, discreetly taking a whiff of the inside. Jesus fuck. Evan Hansen was a complete hunk. What kind of cologne was that? What kind do nerds use? He dropped the neckline and hugged himself instead, the sleeves of the sweater going inches past his fingertips. It was an amazing improvement from moments before and Evan didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, he looked a little pleased whenever he glanced at Jared for the rest of lunch to talk on occasion.

This had to be a one-time thing, though. Jared couldn't go being all needy for comfort or whatever. Evan probably didn't own much warm clothes and it would be kind of pretty very mean to make the blond to lend him stuff every lunch just because he was, like, dying. Self-control was a super chill trait that Jared was lucky to have.

-  
-  
-

Self-control was a super lame trait that Jared definitely did not have. The day after Evan lent him his sweater, Jared made the “mistake” of leaving it at home, so the blond gave him the sweater he was wearing. Jared left that at home, too. Evan gave him another. Jared left it at home. By Friday, Evan had the sense to bring an extra sweater, but it was kind of cold from being in his backpack until lunch. He ended up taking his sweater off anyway and just wearing the cold one so Jared could have the excess body heat. Which was nice of him. Probably way too nice.

Jared felt kind of bad about making Evan go through this hassle the rest of the week, but the blond never seemed to mind sharing his stuff, even if it meant going without an extra layer for the rest of the day. It was always the same smile, the same kind expression, the same pink nose. What an angel. At the end of the day, Jared bid farewell to Evan and promised to bring all his stuff back over the weekend. The blond said something about a project, but Jared was too busy staring at his face to reply besides a few nods to keep that smile going. The two split ways, Jared sporting a grey hoodie as he climbed into his car. When he got home, he took a nap, woke up for dinner, and then huddled in his blankets in a cocoon of warmth to sleep in.

The next morning, he heated up more soup his mom made and brought it into his room, sitting at the head of bed and trying really hard not to spill anywhere. His parents were out on some weekend errands, meaning less social interaction from him. The soup didn't last long and Jared took a hot shower to warm up more afterwards, throwing on one of the sweaters he held captive. It wasn't like he had any clean pajamas. It would be comfy to nap in later, anyway. He settled into bed again, fucking around on his laptop for something entertaining to do instead of boring old homework.

Half an hour into some popular Netflix show, a knock came at the front door. Jared didn't hear it at first, too invested in what he was watching. The knocks came again, though, and he groaned in annoyance as he paused the show. Who was it, the homework police? He was too annoyed to laugh at his own joke. Jared wasn't wearing any pants, so he had to make sure the big sweater he wore was covering him. It went down just an inch above where his boxers ended, the fabric feeling soft against his stomach. Uninterested and not very suspicious of anyone dangerous coming to his house before noon in the suburbs, he opened the door enough to stand in the opening without checking who it was.

“Yeah?”

“Morning, Jared! I came for our—Oh.”

Not the homework police. Evan. It was Evan. Jared flushed at realization as well as the wall of coldness that slammed into the house, covering his nose to protect it from the biting chill of the breeze outside. He shuffled back and swung the door open further, ushering Evan in. The blond did as gestured and Jared shut the door behind him, shivering and feeling goosebumps rise all along his thighs. At least his upper body was covered.

Oh, wait. Yeah.

He looked up at Evan, who was staring at the sweater he wore. It was a soft blue, with a very comfortable inside. It was probably the comfiest one Evan had lent him. Jared self-consciously tugged the hem of it lower, and flushed from his own embarrassment when Evan's eyes darted down to where his hands were moving. He crossed his arms instead, trying not to look at flustered as he felt.

“Why are you here?” he asked, the words coming out too high-pitched to be casually questioning. He cleared his throat. Evan blinked down at him owlishly, and Jared first noticed the folders his friend was holding.

“Uh, the, uh, project? For human physiology?” The blond was tapping over the folders as he held them, keeping his arms close to himself awkwardly. Jared's heart was soaring at the pink in Evan's cheeks and he had to force himself to tune in. “I mentioned it yesterday, but if-if you forgot, I can just come back—”

“Uh, no, no, you're good,” Jared interrupted, pushing his glasses up slightly. Having the guy come over to do work and then leaving just because Jared forgot? He wasn't that much of a dick. He never did homework this early into his weekends, but it wasn't like he had any other plans. Being able to hang out with Evan sounded pretty nice, too. He walked past Evan and heard the teen following closely without any prompting, like a lost puppy. Would Evan want a dog for the holidays? Maybe. Jared filed that thought away for later. “We can just get it over with. I wasn't doing anything anyway.”

“Oh, okay.” They went into Jared's room and tried to get on task. Note: tried. The whole time, Jared was kind of bored, but Evan seemed even less productive than he was. Which was wild. Twenty minutes into the project, Jared suggested he get them a snack just to escape from the room's weird vibes. Evan agreed quickly and said he'd come along, so the shorter teen reluctantly led his friend into the kitchen. Jared was really a slut for soup, so he heated two heaping bowls for the both of them. His mom had made, like, two pots, so he was sure she would want him to share. The awkward silence while eating kind of masked the taste, though. When they were back in Jared's room, stuck at a point in their project, he'd had enough.

“Oh my god, okay, what the hell is going on?” he asked, frowning. Evan jumped slightly, his pencil making a trail an inch from the word he was trying to write. The blond hastily erased it, as if that would spare his embarrassment or something.

“W-What, uh, what do you mean? What? Hm?” It was almost funny seeing the blond get super flustered after being called out, but Jared was really not digging how freaky he was acting.

“Dude, you've barely talked to me. You're, like, totally silent. It's weird. What's up?” Jared grew softer as he continued, just thinking of the possibility of something serious going on in Evan's head. “You okay? Is something wrong or whatever? If you gotta puke, go outside.”

“No, no, I'm fine. I'm good, I—Why, is there something wrong with you?” Evan was really less cute when he refused to admit anything was wrong. The teen was wringing his hands, then paused and started to fiddle with the stitches of a pillowcase. He was sitting on the end of the messy, unmade bed, opposite Jared. Said boy rolled his eyes and leaned back against the headboard, crossing his arms.

“Fine, don’t tell me. But I'm not gonna talk to you besides homework until you admit you're tiptoeing around something.” Petty, Jared knew, but he stood by it. Either Evan bucks up and stops pretending to be normal, or they could just be strictly business until he leaves. The longer the silence went on, as neither of them had questions about the project, the more Jared figured his friend really didn't want to talk. Then, the blond huffed out a breath to get his attention. When Jared looked up again, Evan's face was pink.

“Okay, it's just—well—” He struggled to get his words out, now rolling a pencil between his thumb and forefinger. Jared's eyes followed the movement before snapping back up to Evan's eyes, which were darting around the room nervously. “Um, it's, um. Shit.”

“It's shit,” Jared stated bluntly. Evan finally met his gaze and the movement in his hand paused. He seemed locked there, unable to look away. A beat passed, and he shook his head.

“No, it's—okay, um. No. I just… You—I just can't focus.” More color flooded into his cheeks and he looked to the side, rubbing the back of his neck. He didn't start hyperventilating or crying or anything, so it was probably okay to prod. Jared raised a brow.

“Me? What about me?” Evan looked at him again and Jared deepened his voice in a mock impression not dissimilar to the one at school those few days ago. “‘You—I-I-I-I just can't f-f-focus!’ That's you. That's what you said.”

“No I didn't!” Evan exclaimed quickly, affronted. Jared stared for a few seconds, urging the blond to continue, and Evan huffed. “I can't focus when you look… like that.” He lifted an arm to gesture vaguely in Jared's direction and then let it drop down again. Huh.

“Is that all this is? Dude, you could've just asked me to put on pants.”

“Not-Not that, just, like, you in particular.”

“Wow. What the hell?”

Jared leaned back slightly, affronted. Was he, like, more gross looking than usual? Was the soup making him break out? He wouldn’t stop eating it if it was, but still. Evan's eyes grew wide and he shook his head again, dropping the pencil to gesture with his hands.

“I mean—no, it's that you're—oh my god, I can't speak at all.” Evan grimaced at himself and Jared found himself amused by this whole thing. He could tell Evan really was trying, even though it was sort of slightly kinda lame to have him drag this whole thing out.

“Dude, just spill, I'm losing interest,” he lied, rolling his eyes. He fixed his sleeves absentmindedly, tugging them over his hands and back again. “If you can't even get a sentence out, then—”

“You're wearing my sweater,” the blond blurted out. Jared's eyes snapped up to him, bewildered. Great, now his face was heating up. He opened his mouth to say whatever he was planning to say, but Evan continued. “And it looks really good on you. It's really cute and you're not wearing pants, so, it is very... that. Yes. Okay.”

Oh. Oh!

Cool!

Jared wanted to die!

Maybe even take Evan Hansen down with him, because this boy has no business being like this at all. Ever. Never never never. He looked like he immediately regretted his words, even slapping a hand over his mouth audibly. Evan looked like as flustered as Jared felt. The shorter boy tried to shove away his flusteredness to save face. He had street cred or whatever. To himself.

“Are you telling me you're too horny to remember where your tibia is?” he asked. Evan made a strangled noise that was so funny, Jared snorted before remembering he was supposed to be as cool as a cucumber. Cooler, even. He adjusted his posture to sit up straighter. “What do you want me to do about it? Change? Put on more clothes? I can't believe my knees are distracting you from your education. Dress code really is important, huh?”

“No, it’s—no, you're fine! I mean, if you want to, um, put on more clothes, yeah, but I-I think I can focus from now on. Thanks. Yeah. J-Just—You look good, Jared. Yup.” He hesitated before picking up his pencil again, fidgeting with it as he looked back down at the paper he had in front of him. Jared was flying. He felt high as a kite. He was living and dying and this fucking guy was going to make him start shrieking to himself internally literally every second. On the outside, he acted calm, shrugging and shuffling through the work he was doing.

Awesome. Fantastic. “You look good.” Good in, like, a friend way? A friend way? What else was there to look good in? Not a friend way? Or a friend way? What the fuck? Okay, okay, okay, slowing down and looking at this from an outside perspective, it might not seem like a friend way. It might even seem totally obvious that this _wasn't_ a friendly thing. But Jared knew Evan. _Really_ knew him. That “family friend” shit had ended, like, a while ago, so they were just friends. They were close, right? Close enough to ask whether this was gay or not? Right? Or was that, like, obvious knowledge Evan expected him to know somehow?

He looked up at Evan, who had his shoulders untensed, like he was relieved to have gotten whatever that was off his chest. The blond was making a face at the question he was reading, his head reeling back in that way people do when they see something they vehemently disagree with so they have, like, forty chins. God, he was so cute. A total babe. Jared just lost no nut November in his heart that very second, that's how cute this guy is. Evan was probably way worse off than he was, though, all, “No nut November, day twelve. Homie’s knees lookin’ mad cute.” What a weirdo. Okay, Jared was stalling. Why wouldn’t he, though? It only then started to seep in, the fact that Evan was distracted by him. His looks. What he was wearing. In, like, a good way.

Evan Hansen called him _cute_.

Jared needed more soup.

Before that, though, he’s gotta do something about this. This development. This thing that has certainly developed.

“Do you wanna makeout?” Jared asked, voice strained.

“Yeah, kinda, yeah,” Evan replied, voice an uneven squeak.

So Jared shoved his papers to the side and shuffled over on his knees, avoiding crawling because that probably set a whole different mood. Evan looked up at him, undoubtedly nervous and skin incredibly pink. He’d dropped his pencil and tossed it out of the way, not bothering to look over as it rolled off the side of the bed and onto the floor with an inaudible noise of impact. Jared paused right in front of him, resting his hands on Evan’s knees to keep from falling forward. He searched the blond’s eyes for any sense of reluctance or disgust.

And then Evan hooked a hand around the back of Jared’s head and kissed him. Which was. Woah.

His lips were very soft and very, very warm. There was some kind of dull mint flavor on them, like a sort of chapstick. Jared swiped his tongue over the taste as Evan’s lips drew away just slightly before actually kissing back, leaning forward to capture his friend’s lips again. It was weird to think that the kid with anxiety had more kissing experience, so he wanted to make up for that with enthusiasm. Evan eagerly returned to the kiss, leaning forward himself as his arm slid down to Jared’s waist. A dip on the bed somewhere had Jared assuming Evan’s other hand was there to have some sort of stability, which was a shame, because it would have a lot more purpose if it was on his ass. Maybe another time. He took advantage of Evan leaning over him, grabbing the boy’s shoulders and swinging his weight back to pull the both of them onto the mattress.

Evan made a surprised noise as he fell on top of Jared, but the shorter teen kept his arms tight to keep him from pulling away. Their lips made a satisfying smacking sound when Jared tilted his head into the mattress to break the kiss. His eyes fluttered open to look at Evan, who was already looking down at him with the brightest blue eyes. Their breaths were mixing, hot air between the two of them and it was really romantic and weird at the same time to think of that, so Jared decided not to. Instead, he focused on Evan. Evan, Evan, Evan. He lied about liking white chocolate once, just because Jared offered to share his. He almost made Jared’s mom cry when he was nonchalantly talking about skipping dinner all the time.

He was actually kind of an asshole who didn’t think much about how his choices impacted other people until they actually do, but, like, him reflecting on his actions and trying to improve himself? Hot. Totally hot. The way he was looking down at Jared, lips a sharp pink and eyes a bit glazed? Also hot. Probably almost hotter.

“Should we, like, talk about this? Us? Why I’m on top of you?” Evan asked nervously, face a nice shade of intense pink. Less hot, more cute. Double trouble. Jared lifted a leg to hook over the blond’s hip.

“Talk about me first,” he replied, feeling gutsy after he got the cutest boy he knew to lock lips. Hopefully also share genuine romantic interest. Lock hearts? He was curious about what Evan had to say to him.

“Oh. Oh, uh, well, you’re very, um. Very hot. In my sweater, especially. Pants or none, just as long as you have my stuff on you, I think? Including me, myself. On you. I… y-yeah.”

Neat! He was flirting with him! Though, Jared felt like the flirting really could have come much sooner. Maybe before they were making out, so they could have been making out last month. God knows he was totally horny last month. October really did something for him, he guessed.

“Cool,” he worked out, no doubt looking a bit red in the face as well. “Kiss me again and I’ll keep wearing your stuff. And you. On top of me.”

Evan dipped down to capture Jared’s lips, and Jared felt warmer than he’d ever had.

**Author's Note:**

> i haven't written deh stuff in a while and i'm so psyched to be back i love my kids so much
> 
> if this warmed you up i'm doing my job right!! please do comment and let me know what you think thank you so much for reading!!


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